Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

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■ What happened: New Tigers shortstop Alex Gonzalez heard a smattering of boos when he made a fourth-inning error in his Tigers debut. He heard the roars of a sellout crowd when he tripled home the tying run with two out in the seventh and again when he singled home the game-winner with one out in the ninth.

■ Ausmus’ non-moves: Manager Brad Ausmus said he stuck with Gonzalez against right-handed relievers in those situations because he liked his experience. Perhaps Ausmus also knew that Don Kelly – his left-handed pinch-hit candidate for Gonzalez – was 0-for-15 as a pinch-hitter last year. That probably says less about Kelly than it does about the difficult art of pinch-hitting.

■ Say what? The Royals’ double-play combination of Omar Infante and Alcides Escobar combined to draw only 39 walks last season while taking more than 1,000 official at-bats. In the fourth inning, each drew a two-out walk from Justin Verlander that led to the Royals’ third run. Infante’s walk forced in the run.

■ Lot earlier: Victor Martinez didn’t hit his first homer last season until May 4. He homered Monday on his first plate appearance of 2014. He narrowly missed a second homer with a towering drive to right in the fourth inning that went foul.

■ 1-for-7: Verlander has won one of his seven Opening Day starts. He hasn’t won any of the three he’s made against the Royals. In those three games (’08 and ’10 were the earlier ones), Verlander has pitched 17 innings and given up 10 earned runs.

■ Two-triple inning: The triples by Austin Jackson and Gonzalez in the seventh inning gave the Tigers their first game with more than one triple since Sept. 1, 2012. The Tigers had 23 triples last season _ and never more than one in a game.

■ Not against Alex: Aggressiveness is terrific, but probably not against Royals left fielder Alex Gordon, whose throwing arm is renowned. He showed that arm again when he threw out Nick Castellanos as Castellanos tried to stretch a single into a double as he led off the fifth inning. Entering this season, Gordon had 54 assists in the last three seasons.

■ Overheard: “I talked to him. He’s a young player. I was a young player _ I’ve made mistakes. I wasn’t upset. I’d rather him be aggressive than not. It’s much better than being passive.” – Ausmus on his message to Castellanos after he got thrown out by Gordon.

■ Second-largest: The crowd of 45,068 was the second-largest in the 15-season history of Comerica Park. The only larger one was 45,280 for a game with the White Sox on July 26, 2008.